Anticipating this tactic coming into the season, Griffin needed to improve his shooting percentage from 16-23 feet, as proficiency from that range would allow him to stretch defenses and would make Chris Paul even more dangerous as a distributor with options.

Though it's still a work in progress, so far so good. Griffin has improved his shooting percentage from that range from 37 last season to 38.4 this season.

Thate’s diagnosis was that Griffin would often mistime his release and shoot on the way down, instead of shooting at the peak of his jump.

"Most of the time now when I shoot, when I mess up, I hold the ball a little too long, especially on the way down,” said Griffin. “My posture is a lot better as far as going straight up and down . . . the thing I'm really working on now is trying to shoot on the way up."